A Bridge Too Far

I'm going to start off with great news (to me at least).  The time change we experienced on Sunday has made the days longer.  When I get home now the sun is still shining and it gives me an opportunity to get outside and get a few things done.  The weather is starting to get nice and it just feels good.

Here's the bad news and I don't mean to complain.  The commute is somewhere on the continuum between intolerable and mind-numbing.  Road construction on the I-210 bridge has pushed almost everyone to travel on I-10.  I've discovered some back roads that take me on a long and meandering circuitous route through the country to get home.  It is almost twice the miles, but less time than stuck in traffic.  A 40 mile commute that, prior to construction, took me 42 minutes, now routinely takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to two hours.  Enough of the belly-aching...

Every once in a blue moon, I'll take I-10 just to see if things have gotten better... and quickly find - it has not.  One big, fat parking lot heading eastbound until you get to the top of the bridge.  Here is a big positive, though.  I've gotten to look at the details on the bridge up close and personal.

The Lake Charles I-10 Bridge spans the Calcasieu River as it flows into Lake Charles.  It has a really interesting feature.  Its railings are accented by 5,286 pairs of dueling pistols like buccaneers carried.  Now 50-60 pair are lost or missing due to accidents, but they still look nice and give the bridge some charm.  I read that originally the railings bordered what was a pedestrian path, but the bridge was closed to pedestrian traffic when the bridge became part of the I-10 system.

Image Credit

The bridge was opened in 1952 and the dueling pistols pay homage to the area's pirate history and legends of Jean Lafitte.  It is said that the infamous pirate has chests of doubloons buried among local bayous.  I spend my lunch breaks scouring the banks of Contraband Bayou searching for retirement income.  No success in locating treasure yet, but I'll keep you posted.  Of course I jest.

While the bridge is rich in history, lore, and charm, it is poor in other areas.  According to THIS LINK

The state of Louisiana has rated this bridge at 2.4 on the National Bridge
Inventory Rating Scale of 0 to 9 with 0 being "Failed Condition". Therating of 2.4 on the Calcasieu River Bridge classes this bridge at or near"Critical Condition".

Yikes!

Perhaps I should stick to my long, meandering "country" route home!  I mean looking at dueling pistols adorning the railing is nice, but plummeting to my death on my commute home isn't on my bucket list.

Whistling Past the Graveyard